Las Vegas ER

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Can anyone give me some feedback on Las Vegas emergency rooms? I am thinking of doing a contract there. I used to live in Las Vegas but have never worked there as a nurse. I know the pay is less. But how are staffing ratios, acuity, etc? Are they traveler friendly? Which facilities use computer charting and which systems do they use? What is the housing like for travelers? I come from NYC so I am used to crazy. Please advise! Thanks!

Many people have issues with Las Vegas hospitals because they work Medsurg/tele specialties with crappy ratios. ER and ICUs are quite a bit different.

I worked in Las Vegas for two years full time at UMC. I love that hospital. In the ICU, we were friendly to the travelers. If I ever get brave enough to do travel nursing, the Las Vegas hospitals I'd consider working are UMC, Sunrise, and the St. Rose Hospitals. I have close friends that work at the Valley Hospitals (one Medsurg, one ER, and one ICU). My friend who works in the ER at Summerlin loves it. But my other friends who have different specialties hate it. I guess it just depends in the personality and comfort level/experience of the nurse.

Like I said, as an ICU nurse, the hospitals I'd consider traveling to are UMC, Sunrise, and St. Rose.

I will try to find out what charting systems the hospitals are using. I know all the Valley hospitals (centennial hills, summerlin, valley, desert springs, spring valley) use Cerner.

I have worked ER here in Vegas nearly 4 years. I'm thinking of expanding my horizons and doing a bit of traveling soon so was stalking this forum I've worked Sunrise, St Rose (all 3 campuses) & Summerlin.

My preference is Sunrise. High acuity, high volume, wickedly fun crew to work with. When their is 60 sitting in your lobby & another 60 with their butts parked in your beds you all learn to work together real quick. Very supportive of agency nurses as we couldn't survive without them. It's a 4 to 1 ratio. If you have time intensive ICU pts then they send you help or shut down a couple of your beds. Separate adult & Peds Eds is a plus.

St Rose - Siena is quite busy, higher acuity but not as high as Sunrise- also separate adult & Peds EDs. Delima also has a fair volume, mostly older population ( think nursing home), San Martin is usually quite quiet (very small Ed). I have not had any bad experiences with any of these & the staff have all been great.

Summerlin- only worked here for a bit but was treated well. Small ER, acuity & volume varied drastically.

I agree, I worked there as well and it was horrible. Horrible morale. Horrible nursing (for the most part) They have a huge problem there in the ER with the staff being bullies and lazy. Although I met a lot of wonderful people but most of them have now left as that was a little over 5 years ago. Just had to add my two cents as I was so miserable there, and believe me I am pretty easy to get along with but had a hard time there. I completed my 13 week assignment but told my travel agency that I would never go back , they said they "hear that all the time". Good luck with your choice.

I agree, I worked there as well and it was horrible. Horrible morale. Horrible nursing (for the most part) They have a huge problem there in the ER with the staff being bullies and lazy. Although I met a lot of wonderful people but most of them have now left as that was a little over 5 years ago. Just had to add my two cents as I was so miserable there, and believe me I am pretty easy to get along with but had a hard time there. I completed my 13 week assignment but told my travel agency that I would never go back , they said they "hear that all the time". Good luck with your choice.

Makes you wonder why they would send you there if your agency knew it was that bad! I'd be kinda mad, like what other known disaster areas am I going to?

Charting Systems:
Valley Hospital System (Summerlin, Centennial, Valley, Spring Valley, Desert Springs) uses a great version of Cerner.
Dignity / St. Rose (St. Rose de Lima, Sienna, and San Martin) use a version of Cerner.
HCA (Sunrise, Southern Hills, and Mountain View) use the archaic system Meditech.
UMC - was paper until a couple years ago - not sure what system they went to....

All Med Surg floors in Vegas normal patient to nurse ratio is 6 or 7 to 1 - at sunrise they occasionally go to 8 to 1
ERs - UMC and Sunrise are the busiest and have the highest acuity.
All ICUs are generally 2 to 1 ratio - occasionally 3 to 1 or 1 on 1 depending on the acuity of the patient(s).